Baseball Falls To Monmouth, 9-3, In NEC Play

Apr 30, 2010

WEST LONG
BRANCH, N.J. - The Quinnipiac University baseball team lost to
Monmouth, 9-3, in the first game of a four-game Northeast
Conference series in West Long Branch, N.J. With the loss, the
Bobcats drop to 9-8 in NEC play and 10-27 overall while Monmouth
improves to 11-10 in conference action and 18-18 on the season. The
loss was Quinnipiac's second in its last seven Northeast Conference
games.

Junior Ben
Farina (Waterford, Conn.) led the Quinnipiac offense with a pair of
hits for his sixth multiple-hit outing in the last 10 games. Farina
also drove a ball to right field that Monmouth outfielder Mike
Casale was able to coral to steal a homerun from the Bobcats' left
fielder. Quinnipiac sophomore Chris Migani (Orange, Conn.) was
2-for-4 with a run scored while Ryan Ullrich (Orange, Conn.) drove
in a pair of runs. Mike Oskandy (Bethel, Conn.) took the loss for
the Bobcats to drop to 2-5 on the season after giving up five runs
on six hits over six innings.

Farina now
carries a team-best 10-game hitting streak, the longest this season
for Quinnipiac. He leads the team during that stretch with a .465
(20-43) average with 12 runs scored as well as a .477 on-base
percentage. His two hits in the game also make Farina the only
player in the Bobcats' line-up with a pair of 50-hit seasons, while
he sits a hit away from becoming the 17th player in
Quinnipiac history, and 14th at the Division I level, to
reach 160 hits for his career.

Oskandy was
on a roll early, as he sat down the first nine batters he faced
through the game's first three innings. In the fourth, Casale drew
a lead-off walk and advanced to second on a single by Ryan Terry's.
Jamie Rosenkranz delivered a run-scoring single through the left
side to give the Hawks a 1-0 edge. After a double steal put a pair
of runners in scoring position, Nick Pulsonetti's sacrifice fly
ball to right brought Terry home for a two-run Hawks' lead.
Monmouth hit for two more runs in the bottom of the fifth inning
when a failed pick-off allowed one runner to score. Rosenkranz
drove in another RBI single to push Monmouth's lead to 4-0 through
five innings. Bobby Dombrowski's fourth homerun of the season to
lead off the sixth inning gave the Hawks a 5-0 lead.

In the top
of the seventh, Quinnipiac managed to put together a rally, scoring
three runs to pull within two runs, 5-3, heading into the bottom
half of the inning. After Monmouth starter Nick Meyers retired
Brian Monack (Branford, Conn.) and Joe Poletsky (Riverside, Conn.)
to open the inning, he gave up a single to Migani and hit Gabe
Guerino (Orange, Conn.) with a pitch to put two runners on. Migani
scored on a double by Kyle Nisson (Wallingford, Conn.) down the
right field line as Guerino moved to third. Both runners came
around on a single to right field by Ullrich, who stole second
after reaching, before Meyers struck out Mike Bartlett (Milford,
Conn.) to end the Quinnipiac threat.

In the
bottom half of the inning, Todd DeFrancesco (North Haven, Conn.)
came on in relief of Oskandy. DeFrancesco hit Mike Casale with a
pitch to start the inning before getting Ryan Terry to fly out for
the first out. Rosenkranz followed with a single to move Casale to
second. Both runners moved into scoring position on a ground ball
by Nick Pulsonetti for the second out of the inning. Dombrowski's
two-out single scored Casale before Danny Avella's three-run homer
gave Monmouth the 9-3 cushion. Neil Harm pitched scoreless eighth
and ninth innings, while giving up a hit to Migani.

Quinnipiac
freshman Spencer Kane (Wolcott, Conn.) pitched a scoreless eighth
for Quinnipiac, striking out two batters without giving up a
hit.

The Bobcats
and Hawks are back in action on Saturday, May 1 when they hit the
field for a pair of seven-inning games set for a 1 p.m. start. The
two teams finish up their four-game NEC series on Sunday, May 2
with a nine-inning game also schedule for 1 p.m.